Washington denounces “sham proceedings” against embassy personnel, while the UN Secretary-General calls for the immediate release of dozens of detained staff in violation of international law.
WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS — The United States and United Nations issued strong condemnations Wednesday over the ongoing detention of local diplomatic and aid personnel by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, calling the actions a violation of international law and an act of intimidation.
The U.S. State Department criticized the Houthis for holding current and former local staffers of the U.S. embassy in Yemen. “The Houthis’ arrests of those staff, and the sham proceedings that have been brought against them, are further evidence that the Houthis rely on the use of terror against their own people as a way to stay in power,” said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.
The rebuke came as UN Secretary-General António Guterres demanded the immediate release of all detained UN and humanitarian workers, urging the Houthis not to prosecute them through what the UN labeled unlawful courts. Guterres condemned the referral of UN personnel to the Houthi-run Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa, calling the detentions a breach of international law.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said 59 UN personnel—all Yemeni nationals—are currently held, along with dozens of staff from NGOs, civil society groups, and foreign missions. Some detainees have been held incommunicado for years under reported conditions of mistreatment.
The Houthi-controlled court convicted 17 individuals in late November on espionage charges in a widening crackdown against Yemenis affiliated with international organizations. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that one of his office’s employees, detained since 2021, was brought before the “so-called court on fabricated charges.”
The UN is engaging with the Houthis as well as regional actors including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Oman to secure the staff’s release. The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital in 2014, have imprisoned thousands during the country’s ongoing civil war.
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